


Lin Fact

by twiiinkle_toes



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Canon, F/F, More characters coming - Freeform, Pre-Canon, very kyalin focused, young kyalin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-05-30 03:26:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 11,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15087977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twiiinkle_toes/pseuds/twiiinkle_toes
Summary: this starts right after lin got her scars. its close to canon but im changing a couple things bc thats what fan fiction is for lol. once it gets going korra is going to show up, but it'll mostly be young kyalin 4 dayz





	1. Chapter 1

The diners’ chatter bounced down the hallway from the main dining room as Kya neared. The stone of the walls and floor glowed red with the setting sun, and she could smell garlic and onions. She’d arrived a little late, and was momentarily surprised to see practically her whole family there. The surprise quickly faded; no one ever told her what was going on. She surveyed the room from the wide doorway.

Uncle Sokka was emphatically telling Bumi a story—since when did Bumi have leave?—and they both seemed a little tipsy despite the fact that Aang didn’t allow alcohol on the island. Aunt Suki was doing her best to listen intently to Tenzin ramble on about his studies. Aang watched from across the table with pride, not noticing Suki’s boredom. And the Beifongs were there! Kya hadn’t seen them in forever. Aunt Toph looked the same as always, maybe a little grayer at the edges, but still interrupting uncle Sokka’s stories to correct his exaggerations only to put in a few of her own. Su had grown a little, she was almost as tall as Lin now, not that that was very tall to begin with. She and Lin were on either side of their mother, both simmering in an angry silence. Katara was trying to engage with Lin but not getting much for her efforts.

And Lin, what had happened? The left side of her face was completely covered in bandages, and she was refusing to speak to anyone, giving a one-eyed death glare to those that so much as looked her way. 

Kya and Lin had never been close as kids, only ever friends because they were shoved into the same playdates. They hadn’t spoken in years, but Kya knew that this level of harshness was a lot even for Lin. As the daughter or a peace loving airbender and a waterbender that tried her hardest to go with the flow, Kya simply could not allow harshness.

The last empty space at the table was between Lin and Tenzin, and she squeezed in, gently shouldering her little brother out of the way to make more room.

“Hey!” he said, cheeks pink and holding his soup up high so it wouldn’t spill. When he put the bowl back on the table, Kya bent a little onto his front. Tenzin was scandalized. 

“Moooommmm, Kya bent soup onto my robes,” he said. He always acted a child, even at almost 20 years old. Without looking, Katara bent it back into his bowl, which he grimaced at a little but continued to eat. Kya ignored her mothers following scolding, letting it go in one ear and out the other. She was a grown woman after all, and more interested in whether or not she had managed to get a smile on Lin’s face, or at least something approaching a neutral expression. 

Kya knew Lin had seen her soup stunt, but there was no shift in the scowl. She nudged Lin in the shoulder with her own to make sure she was watching what she was about to do. This earned her a personal scowl, but Kya ignored it. She stretched and “accidentally” bumped the table, using the distraction to slop soup onto Suyin. The corner of Lin’s mouth twitched. 

“Kya!” said Katara, “I know that was you.”

“What was me?” Kya said. Katara tried to yell at her, but the table was too loud and she gave up, instead turning to Bumi to ask how his unit was getting on.

“Maybe if I spill dinner on enough people they won’t make me come back every year,” Kya said to Lin. Lin grunted and continued eating, looking into her bowl. It was something. 

“It’s nice to see you, its been what, two years?” she continued. She could do the talking for both of them. “Suyin’s grown a lot.” At the mention of her little sister, Lin tensed, her spoon halfway to her mouth. Okay, no sister talk then. For a bit Kya talked about where she’d been and what she’d done in the past year, and her plans for the next one. Lin never said anything or looked at her, but Kya could tell she was listening.

 

 

“If you want to get away from all this for a bit, I know all the quietest places on the island,” Kya said, putting her spoon down next to her empty bowl. Lin didn’t say anything. “You don’t have to like talk to me or anything, I need to meditate anyway. These dinners are fun but the noise gets on my nerves after a while, you know?”

Lin remained silent but turned to look at Kya for the first time that night, and Kya took that as a yes to her invitation. 

“Cool,” Kya said, standing up. Lin did the same, and followed her from a few feet behind as Kya left the room, waving a mediation motion at her dad who yelled out a “BYE SWEETIE!”

Kya led Lin through the dining complex, out into the formal gardens, and down through them to the shore. She didn’t look behind her but could hear Lin’s footsteps easily in her metal police uniform. They clicked on stone, thumped on dirt, then crunched on sand. The two wound a path through dunes to a place where sand turned to cliff. There were a few large rocks blocking the breeze, and Kya settled into the sand behind one. Lin picked a different rock and fell onto it. The rock shaped itself to catch her gently, forming a bed perfectly contoured to her back. 

“Yoooo, that was awesome,” Kya said. Lin stared into the sky. The only sounds were the waves against the sand and the bugs that sang to the stars. Kya crossed her legs and closed her eyes. 

“You’re not going to ask about my face?” Lin said. Kya tried her best not to show her surprise that her friend had spoken. She shrugged, eyes open again, and then shifted so she was facing Lin.

“I figured if you wanted to share you would,” Kya said. “I know better than to push a Beifong too hard.” 

Lin grunted, then was silent again. Kya was curious, but she could always ask her mom, she probably knew what was going on. She leaned against her rock, listening to the ocean and feeling its push and pull in her gut. In the morning she’d be on her way to the great swamp in the Earth Kingdom to improve her foggy swamp style. She’d miss the ocean.

“It was Su,” Lin said. “She was with the triads. I confronted her. Mom’s sending her to our grandparents next week.” 

“Oh, Lin,” Kya said.

“I don’t need your sympathy. I’m fine. Just didn’t want you to hear from someone else. I don’t need healing either so don’t offer,” Lin said into the night sky. 

“Still, sucks,” Kya said. Lin grunted. 

They stayed in silence for the next hour, Kya meditating and Lin laying on her rock, counting the stars and trying to think of anything but her god awful sister. It helped to be out here alone. Alone except Kya, but Kya didn’t feel such an intruder in her space like everyone else did, especially since the accident. 

She had to get back to her new apartment, and wanted to do something for Kya in return, for some reason, but the waterbender was still mediating. Lin felt around in her pockets for the key to her apartment. She bent a thin slab off the rock she’d been laying on, and carved in a message.

Key to my place. 1601 Granite Street. Welcome to stay when next in town.

She left the slab next to Kya with the key on top of it, and made her way to the docks on the other side of the island. Was that too much? Whatever.

Half an hour later, Kya opened her eyes to Lin’s absence and the key’s presence. She smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a year since Lin had given Kya the key to her apartment, would she even remember? Kya hoped she did, because she knew better than to pass up free housing. Staying on the island was free, but only in the financial sense. Those damn acolytes could be so passive aggressive. Maybe staying with Lin would be less draining. She’d probably be at the station most of the time anyway. From what Kya had heard, she practically lived there. She fished around in her bag for the tiny platinum key and shoved it into the lock with the butt of her palm. 

 

 

Lin was home earlier than midnight for the first time in weeks. It had been a light day. A rarity. As she unlocked her door she bent the sole off her right boot to seismically check for intruders, as she did every night—a thoughtless habit. 

There was someone there. Jolted into alertness, she stomped the ground again. Something about the footsteps and heartbeat was familiar, but she couldn’t place it. It had to be either a friend or someone she’d arrested, and Lin didn’t really have friends. She steeled herself and threw the door open.

“Republic City Police!” she said. Kya jumped, because of course it was Kya, had it been a year already?, and dropped her tea. The mug shattered and tea seeped into the tiled stone floor. 

“Jesus Lin, how about we start with ‘Honey I’m home,’” Kya said. She started to clean up the remnants of the mug. Lin edged around the mess into the kitchen to pour herself a cup.

Kya caught her first glimpse of post-bandages Lin as the earthbender moved past her. She bit her tongue to keep from saying anything. There were two long, pink scars on Lin’s right cheek stretching from the side of her neck to her forehead. Her right eyebrow was split into two and her right eye was pale and cloudy. Just like Toph’s.

“Sorry, I forgot I gave you a key,” Lin said. She plopped into her dent on the couch. Kya tossed the mug shards into the trash and joined her with a fresh cup.

“It still cool if I crash here?” Kya said. “I’ll only be a week or so.”

“Yeah,” Lin said. She flipped through an old newspaper.

“Sick, thought you might want to toss me out after I broke your mug,” Kya said. Lin shrugged. 

“Wasn’t my favorite one,” she said. 

“Oooooooooh the impenetrable Lin Beifong has a favorite mug, I’m really getting all the inside knowledge,” Kya said. “I should stay here more often.” She shifted to lean against the arm of the couch. Her legs ended up across Lin’s lap. Lin looked a little uncomfortable but she didn’t say anything or move, so Kya stayed put.

“That ones my favorite,” Lin said, gesturing at the mug in Kya’s hands. It was white stone, smooth on the inside, handle, and bottom, and rough and uncut around the outside. Heavy but not too heavy, it felt good in the hand, and was easy to grip without using the handle.

“A gift from a special someone?” Kya asked, carefully lifting up the mug to examine the bottom without spilling her drink.

“No, I made it,” Lin said. She tossed the paper over Kya’s legs and onto the slate coffee table.

“Lin fact number two: is boss at making mugs. I’m learning so much already.” Kya said. 

“Lin fact number three: I have work in the morning,” Lin said. She untangled herself from Kya’s long legs and started towards her bedroom. 

“On a Saturday?” Kya asked.

“Crime never sleeps,” Lin said. Kya laughed. Lin raised a brow. “The couch is all yours, I’ll be out by six. Night.”

“Goodnight Lin!” Kya said. Lin waved a hand behind her, and closed her bedroom door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> credit to lin's extended scars goes to my girlfriend :)


	3. Chapter 3

Kya was asleep on the couch when Lin left for the station at six a.m. and when she came home at two a.m. for the next four days in a row. On the fifth night, Lin made it home by eleven, and Kya was still awake. 

“You might as well just sleep at the station,” Kya said. Her head peeked over the back of the couch and her feet the side.

“Mom told me to stop doing that,” Lin said. She got a tea from the kettle keeping warm on the stove and moved to join Kya on the couch. Lin lifted up Kya’s legs and slid under them into her dent on the couch, lowering her friends legs back down onto her lap so they were in the same position as they’d been in on Kya’s first night. Always one for routines.

“She was right to, you need to take care of yourself,” Kya said, putting her book and mug aside.

“I do take care of myself,” Lin said.

“Sleep is a part of that, Lin,” Kya said.

“You sleep enough for the both of us,” Lin said. She tipped her head back and finished her tea. Kya took her mug and put in on the floor next to her own.

“Fair enough,” Kya said. “I’m out in the morning, but it seems Tenzin’s got his little acolyte girl pregnant so I’ll be back in a couple months. Is it cool if I stay here again?”

“Mhm,” Lin said, “You’re always welcome. Company’s nice.”

“Lin fact number four.” Kya said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some longer chapters are coming up pretty soon :) also im making it so tenzin and lin never dated (besides for like two weeks when they were kids)


	4. Chapter 4

This time Lin recognized the footsteps and heartbeat she felt inside her apartment. Kya was back. After collecting her mail, Lin shouldered her front door open. Kya was on the couch with tea, as she’d been months before.

“Hi honey, how was your day,” Kya said with a wink, holding up Lin’s favorite mug in greeting. 

“Triple threats have gone down but the Triads have been recruiting,” Lin said. She dropped her mail onto the stone countertop. “How’d your soul-searching go?”

“Eh, I found myself the first year, these last couple have just been for funsies. I think I’m about done traveling around for a while anyway.” Kya said. “It would be, uh, prudent to stay out of the Earth Kingdom for a bit, the Air Temples are full of those stuffy acolytes, I know too many people in the water tribes, and Izumi’s been busy being baby Firelord so there’s no point in going there anymore. She says hi by the way.”

“Don’t tell me what you did in the Earth Kingdom or I’ll have to arrest you,” Lin said, getting into her spot with Kya’s legs on her lap.

“You’re safe, I don’t even want to remember it,” Kya said.

They stayed like that on the couch for a while, swapping stories of travel and interesting cases, only getting up to refill tea and then whisky. 

“You haven’t asked about my eye,” Lin said. 

“Oh, uh, I figured you didn’t want to talk about it,” Kya said. Lin looked at her for a moment. 

“You’re the first one to respect that,” Lin said.

 

 

Lin woke with the sun the next morning, still on the couch with Kya. She had fallen asleep half sitting and half laying on top of the waterbender, and had the worst cramp in her neck and shoulders. Part of her was enjoying the simple luxury of physical human contact, but not enough to keep her in her current position.

“KyaIHaveToMove,” Lin mumbled, half asleep still. She tried to shuffle out from underneath her friend but got tangled in her dress.

“Lin its like, still night,” Kya groaned. Her eyes remained closed as she curled into a ball on the end of the couch to free Lin, who stood to stretch. She grabbed a blanket from a chair and threw it over Kya. 

“I’ll see you tonight.”


	5. Chapter 5

When Lin got home, her apartment smelled like burnt sugar. 

“Kya, what the hell are you doing?” Lin said. She walked into the kitchen, waving her hand above her head to try to disperse the smoke. Kya threw a pan of burnt cookies into the trash while Lin opened a window to clear the air.

“The baby’s gonna be born soon so I thought I’d make some ‘congrats you’ll have a kid soon hope its an airbender so you can stop freaking out about rebuilding your nation now’ cookies but it turns out I can’t bake,” Kya said. The whole kitchen was a mess, it looked like Kya had used up every clean bowl and utensil Lin had. Lin sighed. 

“Alright clean up some of-,” Lin gestured to the whole kitchen, “-this, and let me get changed and then we can start take two.”

“Take four,” Kya corrected.

The kitchen was half clean when Lin returned in a white tank top and sweats. Kya had put on the radio and the station was oscillating between news and slow but not boring songs. A light breeze and sounds of the city streets wafted in through the open window. The two got to work.

“I didn’t picture you as the cooking type,” Kya said, mixing the dough with her hands.

“Mom was never around much when we were little, and when she was she usually didn’t have the energy to cook, and someone had to make sure Su ate,” Lin said with a shrug. 

“Lin fact number five,” Kya said. “OH before I forget, do you want to come to the island with me to deliver these tomorrow?”

“I can’t I have wor—“

“You always have work, when was the last time you took a day off? Plus I’m sure mom’d love to see you,” Kya said. 

“Hmm. I’ll take half the day off,” Lin said. Kya pulled her into a big hug that lifted her off the ground a little.

“Thank you!” she said. Lin’s ears were a bit pink, half from being squeezed and half from the realization that Kya was strong enough to lift her.

 

 

Kya grabbed Lin’s hand and pulled her running through the crowds towards the docks. 

“We’re going to miss the boat!” Kya said, weaving a path through the lunch commuters and shoppers.

“We’re really not,” Lin said, letting herself get dragged along. The crowd spat them out right before the pier that the ferry to Air Temple Island was tied to. The captain saw the pair running his way and waved to indicate he would wait. Kya slowed and Lin matched her pace. They collapsed into the boat, hands sweaty but still gripping each other. 

“Told you, “Lin said. She looked at Kya, who smiled and squeezed her hand. 

“I’ll take the loss,” Kya said. Lin looked down at their still joined hands and then back up at Kya. Neither let go until they made it to the island and Tenzin pulled Kya away for a hug. As soon as the hug ended, Kya’s hand found it’s way back into Lin’s. Tenzin didn’t seem to notice. 

The two walked beside Tenzin hand-in-hand as he led them to the common room of the Avatar Family Living Quarters. 

“Looking radiant as always Lin,” Tenzin said.

“Cut the crap Tenzin,” Lin said. She’d dated him for about two weeks when they were kids and he still acted the same around her as he did in the days following their breakup. 

Kya held out the bag of cookies. Tenzin just stared at them. 

“You can bake?” he asked. Kya thrust them into his chest.

“Lin taught me,” she said. 

“Lin can bake?” he asked. A rock shot up out of the ground and tripped him.

“I’m right here dumbass,” Lin said. Tenzin blew himself off the floor and jogged to catch up with the two women. He ducked past them and pushed the door open. 

Pema and Aang were seated in adjacent armchairs. Katara ran back and forth between the common room and kitchen bringing Pema everything she asked for and lots of things she didn’t. Toph lounged on a couch and teased Aang for needing a cane in his fifties. Those 100 years were finally catching up to him. 

“Mom?” Lin said, stopped in the doorway, “What are you doing here?” This was the first time Lin had seen her mother outside of work since Suyin was sent off and Lin moved out.

“What are you doing here?” Toph said, readjusting so her feet were on the floor. “You brought Sugar Princess.” 

“She made me come,” Lin said. Toph barked a laugh.

“Like mother like daughter,” she said. 

Lin simmered a little and slumped into a chair. Kya, sighing, sank into another and put her feet in Lin’s lap, as was the custom.

“It’s about damn time,” Katara whispered to Aang when she noticed this. He grinned.

 

 

“So,” said Katara, once everyone was settled in for an evening of tea and chatting, “have you heard from Suyin?”

Toph froze. Lin tensed. Aang and Tenzin sighed at the same time. Pema looked a little bit lost. 

“I told you already,” Toph said, slowly, testily, “I told her she’s welcome to visit whenever she wants and I won’t stop her from moving back when she’s of age.” She folded her arms over her metal uniform. Kya could sense that both she and Lin were poised to jump up and leave at any moment. 

“She’s your daughter, Toph,” Katara said.

“Yeah, mine,” Toph said. She stood and stalked out. 

“Um, I was thinking about Jinora if it’s a girl and Meelo if it’s a boy,” Pema said after a moment of silence. Aang perked up.

“I used to know a boy named Meelo!” he said. He carried on with a story about his days before learning of his cosmic role, used and mostly oblivious to his friend’s temper.

 

 

The following week the baby, a girl, Jinora, was born. Katara and Kya delivered her without a hitch, except for Tenzin fainting halfway through. Kya, with a decent coating of blood, leaned on the doorway to the delivery room with Jinora’s cries as a backdrop. 

“Wanna come meet your new niece?” Kya said. Lin blushed, just a little, from her spot on the floor in the hallway. 

“Not really my scene,” she said.

“Lin fact number six,” Kya grinned.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;)))))

“Hey Lin!” Kya said as soon as she heard the apartment door open. “The hospital hired me, you’re looking at a real adult with a real job.” She spun around in her new waterbending department nurse uniform and grabbed Lin’s hand on one of the turns. Lin allowed herself to be spun once and then stopped Kya with hands on her waist.

“I’m happy for you but if you keep spinning me I’m gonna throw up,” Lin said. Kya hooked an arm around Lin’s waist and started moving them towards couch and the two mugs of tea she’d already set out. 

“Thanks Chief,” she said. 

“You know I’m not actually the chief, right?” Lin said. She kicked off her boots and bent off her armor and placed them by the door.

“Yeah,” Kya said, “But you will be.” 

“Alright President Kya,” Lin said. Kya smacked her and handed her a mug. Lin hesitated to sit, looking at the pile of Kya’s life accumulating next to and on top of and under and behind the coffee table. 

“You know, since you’re, uh, going to be here for a while there’s no sense in breaking your back on the couch. I’ve got plenty of room for all your, uh, stuff,” Lin gestured vaguely to Kya’s mountains of clothes and bags of medical supplies and god knows what else, “and my beds big enough for two. If you, uh, want to. Share.” Lin chugged her tea to avoid looking at Kya, who hopped up and immediately starting lugging armfuls of clothes into Lin’s—their—bedroom.

“Thanks Lin! I can start paying rent next week,” Kya said. 

“Don’t worry about that, this place is way under my budget.” Lin rubbed her neck.

“Oh yeah, I forgot y’all are like loaded,” Kya said. 

“Lin fact number seven,” Lin said.

 

 

Lin’s bed was definitely big enough for two. Three, even. But you wouldn’t know it with how close Kya settled next to Lin. Lin didn’t mind, she’d grown to enjoy their closeness on the couch with tea each night. Somehow it’d become part of her daily routine. 

In the middle of the night she woke, put an arm around Kya, and fell back asleep.

 

 

Lin’s––and Kya’s, now––apartment was only a couple blocks from the police station, and across the street from that was the hospital. Kya had used her significant skill and ancestry as leverage to make sure she was scheduled to start the same time as Lin each day. Their morning routine was as follows:

Lin woke with the sun, always. She showered, got dressed, made tea, coffee, and breakfast. The noises and smells would wake Kya, and she would shower and get dressed just as the kettle whistled. They ate together and then walked to work hand-in-hand.

But it didn’t always go that way.

 

 

Kya woke with Lin in her arms. It felt really, really, good, but also a little weird, why was it weird? The realization hit her with the clock’s next tick. They’d both slept in.

“Lin!” she said, propping herself up on her elbow, “Lin we’re late!”

Lin sat up so fast she almost fell off the bed. 

“FUCK,” she said. She stumbled out of bed and towards the bathroom, Kya not far behind. Lin turned the shower on and jumped when she realized Kya was in the room with her. 

“Um. I need to shower,” Lin said. Kya crossed her arms.

“Me too, dummy! We’ll have to go at the same time,” Kya said. She began to undress. 

“What? No, can’t you shower at work?” Lin asked, turning away from Kya with red cheeks.

“Can’t you?” Kya said, hopping around on one foot as she peeled off her leggings. “I’m showering now, you can feel free to hop in.” She stepped past Lin and into the shower. Lin stood in a silent battle with herself for a moment and then threw her pajamas on the floor and joined Kya.

“Nice of you to join me Ms. Beifong,” Kya said, hands on her hips. Lin scowled, red from more than just the hot water, and took the bar of soap from her hands. Kya grinned.

“We have to switch, I’m not getting any water,” Lin said. She and Kya attempted to maneuver past each other in the small space. Their arms and sides touched, skin warm and slippery. Kya moved to close the space between them but slipped and fell, dragging Lin down with her as she tried to grab onto the earthbender for support. Kya landed hard on her hip and Lin on her knees. 

Lin half rolled half crawled out of the shower, groaning at just about everything that was happening in this situation. 

“I hate you,” she said. Kya’s matching groans of pain slipped into a chuckle. 

“You couldn’t hate me if you tried.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im thinking most chapters will be kinda short bc i like writing little moments like this


	7. Chapter 7

There was a letter on her desk. It topped her stack of paperwork and was addressed to: 

Lin Beifong  
Republic City Police Department  
Republic City, United Republic

in swooping green letters. Lin frowned and opened a drawer on her desk that contained five or six identical unopened letters. She went to add it to the pile, but noticed a glint of green ink on the back of the envelope. _“Please don’t ignore this one!!!”_ She threw it into the drawer, slammed it shut, and fell with a “hmph” and a glare into her chair. Pulling the first document off her stack, Lin tried her very hardest to focus on damage reports, missing person reports, accident reports, so, so many reports. 

She glanced around the mostly empty room and took the letter back out of the drawer. She put it in the center of her desk and stared at it. 

Reading the letter didn’t mean she _had_ to respond to it. Buuuuttttt, it did mean that she had to think about her sister and, more likely than not, get dragged into some sort of family drama. This was Su, after all. 

Lin stared at the letter some more. 

She thought a little but about what she was about to do.

Then she ripped it open. 

The stationary was a thick, faded jade embossed with “Suyin Beifong” and their family crest. Lin rolled her eyes. What a drama queen. The green ink was the same as on the now torn up envelope. It read:

 

_Lin,_

_To be quite honest I’m not sure if you’ve read my other letters or if you’re even reading this one. Either way, first I will summarize what I’ve written in the past._

_I am deeply regretful of what happened between us and mom, and the part I played in that debacle. If you ever feel inclined to try to talk things over, I am always ready and eager to reconcile. I know I was immature before, but I feel I have grown a lot as a person since then. Please at least consider it._

_I have spent some time traveling since leaving the estate. It helped me figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I am going to build a city._

 

At this point Lin had to stop reading to pull her thoughts back into control. A city? Su was only 17 for god’s sake, how on earth was she going to build a whole city? Was that even legal, can you just build cities? Also wait how long had she been traveling? She’d only been 12 when mom’d sent her to Gaoling–god she must’ve run away, did mom know about any of this? 

Lin took a deep breath and dove back in.

 

_I’ve met a wonderful engineer and architect who’s agreed to help me plan and design what I hope will be a home for generations of metalbenders to come. It would mean the world to me if you and mom would visit the site I’ve chosen. I’ve included a map. Speaking of mom, I thought about writing her a letter as well and getting it printed in braille, but I figured she wouldn’t have bothered to learn it. It would be greatly appreciated if you could read this to her, or at least summarize it._

_Hope to hear from you soon,_

_Suyin_

 

Lin tried her very best not to crumple up the letter in her fist as she strode to her mother’s office. She knocked. 

“I’m busy,” Toph said through the metal door. 

“It’s important, Chief,” Lin said. 

“That’s nice, I’m busy.”

“Mom!” Lin said. She bended the door open and then closed behind her. Toph was indeed busy; stacking a bunch of rocks on her desk until the pile fell over. Lin bended them all into the trash.

“I got a letter from Su,” she said. She decided on summarizing the letter. 

“Hmpf,” Toph said, “I suppose the proper thing to do would be to go see this project of hers and try to make nice.” She out her feet up on her desk and chewed on the end of a pencil. “Tell her we’ll come after I’m done dealing with this blood bending bastard.”

“Yes Chief.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Do we really have to do this?” Lin asked, accepting the diaper bag from Tenzin with a good deal of emotional difficulty. Pema looked her dead in the soul. 

“Yes,” she said. She and Lin had matching bags under their eyes, the earthbender noted. And Pema had some bonus windblown hair. “She started bending this morning.”

Lin looked to Kya for reassurance. Kya got a gust to the face from Jinora, who found this hilarious and was giggling and squirming in her mothers arms. Pema handed her to Kya.

“GoodLuckSeeYouInTheMorningBye,” Tenzin said, already halfway down the hall.

 

 

“Mom?” Kya said into the phone. It was mounted on the wall in the hallway. “Yes hi, it’s great to talk to you too, did Tenzin ever–yeah, I’m sorry for calling late–did Tenzin ever get himself caught up in his own tornado as a kid? Yes everything’s fine.” Kya twirled the cord around her finger and leaned up against the wall. Lin ran around their apartment tying everything down, not even trying to catch Jinora, who’s column of air crashed into a bookshelf, sending its contents flying. Lin caught her and surrounded her in stone, leaving only Jinora’s little head free. 

“Hmm?” Kya said, “Oh that’s just traffic, you know, city noises. Never really get used to it. Did you ever find a way to stop him from doing that? Tenzin. The tornados. Mhmm. Okay. Thanks mom, I gotta get going. Okay. Okay. Yes. Okay. I love you too, goodbye.” She hung up.

“Lin!” Kya called into the living room, “You’ve gotta, oh, that works too.” 

Lin a thumbs up and placed the newly encased and still giggling Jinora in a dent she’d bent into the floor. Jinora rolled herself around in circles. 

 

 

After knocking and waiting for a little bit longer than was socially acceptable, Tenzin and Pema let themselves in. They found Lin, Kya, and Jinora in a pile on the torn up floor, all sound asleep. Around them lay books and other trinkets thrown from their shelves, bits of rock, and an overturned chair. The contents from the diaper bag were strewn on top of it all. Tenzin looked to his wife.

“Should we wake them up?” he asked. 

“Absolutely not,” Pema said. “We’re making breakfast.”


	9. Chapter 9

Kya tried to walk past the officer working front desk in the entrance to the detective floor, but he wasn’t having it. 

“State your name and purpose.”

“Kya, visiting my favorite detective,” she said, shooting a wink over to Lin, who’d noticed her presence. 

“I’m sorry ma’am, we do not allow civilians on the floor past 1800 hours,” the man said. He was young and obviously new. 

“Listen kid,” Kya said, hands on his desk and looking him in the eye, “I’m too young to be called ma’am and I’m visiting Lin whether you want me to or not. Toph made that rule just so she could sleep in her office without being interrupted by some councilman wanting something boring.”

The boy paled at the name drops and was about to respond when Lin clapped a hand on his shoulder. 

“It’s okay, Liu,” she said, “She’s always allowed in.”

Liu nodded and flushed from the attention from a Beifong.

 

 

Lin and Kya were the only people in the open part of the floor besides poor Liu, detective Liang, and Toph, in her office. It was late, and quiet. Kya was asleep in a chair, breathing softly and slowly, her feet in Lin’s lap. Lin’s pen scratched across paper after paper. A chair squeaked as detective Liang left. Toph snored in her office. City lights twinkled in the windows.


	10. Chapter 10

“Oh, did I ever tell you that Su wrote?” Lin asked. She was working from home today; Kya had the day off. She’d begun to suspect that that Toph assigned her more paperwork than the other detectives. Lin certainly did it more thoroughly than they did. What was the opposite of nepotism? 

“Once mom finishes her case we’re going to go visit,” Lin continued, “Su’s building a city, apparently. Can you take a couple weeks off work?”

Kya looked up from where she was folding laundry on the living room floor. She’d organized it into green, blue, scrubs, white, and socks under Lin’s insistence that there was some kind of order. Before this one of her many, many, white tank tops had turned baby blue, which “is not my color, Kya.” Kya slept in that one now.

“Yeah for sure!” Kya said, “I haven’t used any of my vacation days yet.”

 

 

The train ride to Chin was long, and boring. Toph spent most of it asleep and avoiding messengers with telegrams from the station. How she ever got elected Chief was a mystery to Lin. Kya suspected a good deal of threatening was involved. Lin spent the two days pacing along the length of the train, restless and stressed. She’d counted 16 cars and 1728 steps. This left Kya with lots of alone time. By the end of the first day she’d drawn Toph in four different napping positions and Lin in five distinct scowls.

The conductor announced they had about an hour and a half left until reaching Chin in the evening of the second day. Kya, quite bored with sketching, left their compartment to go find Lin. She checked the small bar in the dining car first and didn’t need to make any other stops.

Lin was slumped in the leftmost of the three stools. The bartender was waiting on tables and had just left her the whole wine bottle, now empty. Kya slid onto the middle stool.

“Red wine?” she asked.

“Eight,” Lin said, head on the counter, face flushed. 

“Eight glasses?” Kya asked.

“Fact.” Lin said. “Me fact. Eight.”

“You drink a whole bottle of wine when you’re nervous?” Kya said more than asked. Lin tried to nod with her head still on the counter.

“What if she still hates me?” Lin asked. She raised herself up a little, saw that the bottle was empty, and let her head fall back down with a dull thud.

“I’m not sure she ever hated you in the first place,” Kya said, putting a hand on Lin’s knee. Lin moved her own hand on top of it.

“She did,” she said, nodding on the counter again. Her hair was a mess.

“Okay well even if she did, from what you told me it sounds like she’s ready to put that all behind her,” Kya said. 

“Mmmmmmokay,” Lin said.

“Come on, let’s get you sobered up a bit,” Kya said, a bit surprised at how easy Lin had given in, “We’re going to get to Chin soon and your mom’s probably going to march us through the night.” She dragged Lin off her stool and helped her back to their compartment. 

 

 

Toph did, in fact, march them through night, eager to reconnect with the earth after two days of “train prison.” Kya navigated via Su’s impressively detailed map. The site Su had chosen, a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides, was a four hour hike through the foothills. Lin had a vice grip on Kya’s hand the whole time.

“There they are!” Toph said triumphantly. She pointed at a hill. Kya squinted at it.

“Uh,” she said. She couldn’t see any sign of life. She couldn’t see much of anything, really. Toph had kept on up the hill and was halfway to the summit.

“They’re probably on the other side,” Lin said. Toph waited for them at the top of the hill, hands on her hips. The land in front of them opened up into the valley illustrated on the map. There were a couple flicking pinpricks of light, probably lanterns. The light made the canvas tents appear to glow and flashed off piles of steel beams. 

“I don’t see much a city,” Toph said.

“She just started, mom.”

 

 

Someone noticed them when they were a couple dozen feet from the camp. She walked out to meet the group from where she’d been walking back to the main camp to what they assumed to be the bathrooms. She was earth kingdom, and had on a t-shirt that had “BING’S BIG BUILDS” emblazoned across the chest. 

“Um, can I help you?” she said, a little surprised that she was able to muster up her customer service voice at three in the morning.

“I’m looking for my daughter,” Toph said.

“Suyin Beifong,” Lin added for clarification. 

“Um, right now?” asked the woman.

“Yup,” Toph said. The woman shrugged and waved them to follow her as she wound a path through the tents. She stopped in front of the biggest one. 

“This is hers,” she said. “Her office is up front and sleeping quarters behind. I’m Bing, by the way.” She pointed to her name on her shirt.

“Great to meet you, Bing,” Kya said, shaking her hand and introducing her two compatriots. “Thanks for directing us here!”

Bing returned the pleasantries and wandered back towards her tent. Toph pushed through the tent flap. 

“SU!” she yelled, stomping the ground. Kya and Lin ducked in and heard a high-pitched yelp from the sleeping quarters. Soon after, Su scrambled through the flap in the wall bisecting her tent.

“You came!” she said. Understandably, she was in her pajamas, the bottoms of which were just boxers.

“Put some damn pants on,” Lin said.


	11. Chapter 11

Lin pushed the two cots Su had allotted her and Kya together into one big bed while Kya looked on with a raised brow and slight smile. 

“What?” Lin said, “I’m used to it now.”

 

 

Suyin sat at her makeshift desk, Toph on a rock she’d raised from the ground, and Kya on a chair off in the corner. Lin paced up a dust cloud.

“Su,” she said, “I understand why you got caught up in the triads even though it was completely stupid.”

Su scoffed and opened her mouth, but then remembered Kya had made them all promise to be peaceful. 

“However,” Lin said, “It was completely within my rights and the law to arrest you, especially because we were in a public place. I know you did not mean to scar me even though I’m certain you were a brat and intended to hurt me.”

Toph chuckled. Kya threw her hand to her forehead. Su thought about what her sister had said for a moment. 

“Yeah, that tracks,” she said, “Truce?” She held out her hand. Lin stopped pacing and looked at it for a breath before stepping forward and shaking it. Kya was impressed with their maturity for about twenty seconds before both sisters turned on their mother.

“I can tell you’re looking at me,” Toph said.

“You raised us,” Su said, “You’re why we’re all screwed up.”

“Not true,” Toph said, “Su, your uncle Sokka babysat you four times a week and you absorbed his… Sokka. Lin, Katara babysat you a ton and she made you all punctual and responsible and stuff.”

“You’re not taking any responsibility at all?” Lin asked. Su had come out from behind her desk to stand next to her sister, arms crossed. 

“I am not,” Toph said.

“Uuurrghhh your argument doesn’t even make sense!” Lin said, pacing again, “Katara definitely has a wild streak and I didn’t get any of that, I’m the way I am because you were more of a distant role model for me than a mother!”

Kya sighed. This was more how she thought this talk would go. 

“Lin, Su,” Toph said, standing up and striding to stand at her full height in front of them, “Who are the second and third best earthbenders in the world?”

“Us,” Lin said after a thick, silent minute.

“Su?” Toph asked.

“Us,” Su said, scowling.

“That’s damn right. So stop acting like children. You think Kya didn’t have an ideal childhood either? I bet she could go on for ages about Twinkletoes and his flaws. I wasn’t a perfect parent and neither is anyone else. All there is to do is learn to live with each other. I can live with you two rockheads and your drama, can you live with me and mine?” Toph said. Kya held her breath. She could practically feel the gears turning in Lin and Su’s heads. No one moved until Su wordlessly ran forward and wrapped her arms around her mother, looking like a 17 year old kid for the first time since Kya and Lin had arrived. Toph awkwardly pat her youngest on the back.

“Get in there Lin,” Kya said, “It’s part of the healing process.”

“No thanks,” Lin said, “Plus I haven’t even decided if I want to live with mom’s drama yet.”

Kya moved to Lin, took her by the arm, and dragged her into the group hug.

“Looks like you don’t get a choice Linny,” Toph said. 

“Okay that’s enough,” Lin said, squirming her way out from her family’s rare show of affection. 

 

 

Lin and Su worked the rest of the day to give the construction crew a break. They lifted and bent huge metal skeletons for the city’s first buildings. Su's engineer and architect, Bataar, stood to the side squinting at the blueprints and pointing at things. Kya sat on a hill a little bit away from the crew’s camp. She’d gotten tired of them ogling over Lin and Su and their raw power and asking her questions about them. Besides, from here she could watch just fine, with the grass between her toes as an added bonus. Su had on a black tank top and a conical straw brimmed hat. Lin had been given a hat too, but had let it fall to hang on her back from the string around her neck. Su was a little bit taller than her sister now, but Kya found Lin’s height, little as there was, endearing. Kya was watching Lin’s back muscles through her white tank top as she and Su lifted up a beam that had to be 100 feet long, when Toph sank to the ground next to her. They sat in silence for a bit, except for the wind blowing through the grass and the grating of steel on steel.

“If you hurt her I’ll kill you,” Toph said. 

“I know,” Kya said. She twisted a blade of grass around her fingers, looking away from the construction and Lin. “Thank you for allowing me this far into your family.”

“Don’t go getting all chummy with me Princess,” Toph said. “I’m only here to keep the proverbial eye out for my girls.”

One of the buildings actually started to look like a building, and Lin and Su were working from up on the skeleton instead of the ground. Bataar, unable to follow them up, had begun shouting his instructions to them.

“Not to pry, but couldn’t you work as fast as both as them combined?” Kya asked. 

“You can’t start out with ‘not to pry’ and then go right on prying,” Toph said. “But yes, I could. Maybe a bit faster on a good day, but their skill is approaching mine. Slowly. And I didn’t say that.” She settled back into the grass. “I’ve already made my mark on the world, though, and its time for them to make theirs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not sure if i made them make up too fast but maybe they all just didnt want kya to kick their butts if they didnt. damn i should've written that lol


	12. Chapter 12

Kya sat up like a shot in the middle of the night and her hands flew to her mouth to muffle her strangled cry. She stayed like that, taking fast and shallow breaths and listening to the rain gently thunkthunkthunkthunk into the canvas tent, until the images of what she had seen working the emergency room but transposed onto her family, onto Lin, had disappeared. 

Lin stirred in bed next to her, curling up closer. She was okay, they were both okay. 

 

 

The rain continued the next day, and the next, and the next. The whole construction site had, by the third day, melted into a field of deep, thick, sticky mud. All the earthbenders on site worked through the following morning to resolidify the ground. Kya helped as well, sucking the water out of the ground and evaporating it back into the air. Lin trudged over to Kya, leaving the rest of the crew to finish the last quadrant. She was coated in mud up to her thighs, spattered in it everywhere else, and completely soaking wet. 

“Remind me again why we came here?” she asked, blinking as rain fell into her eyes. Su and some of her crew ran off yelling after a tent that the wind had uprooted and was currently carrying towards the mountains. 

“Our first and last family vacation,” Toph said, stomping past both of them and into the mess tent. Lin and Kya followed. Besides the three of them, the only two other people in the tent were Bataar and the chef, who looked a lot like a pirate. At the sound of people entering, Bataar looked up from the papers spread out around him and his cup of tea. 

“Oh, um, hello Mrs. uh, Chief. Toph Beifong,” he sputtered. Toph raised a hand at him, grabbed a beer from a barrel full of ice Kya had made from the rain, and slumped into a corner. 

“Lin,” she said, “when are we going home?”

“Couple days,” Lin said. She and Kya each grabbed a tea and sat at Bataar’s table. Lin bent the earth beneath her chair so it was leaning back but wouldn’t fall over, and Kya recognized her cue, and shifted so her legs were in Lin’s lap. Toph stood up so fast her chair fell over. 

“LIN!” she said.

“Jesus mom, I’m right here,” Lin said.

“Come with me,” she said, already striding across the tent towards the door.

“I just sat down!” Lin said, gesturing towards her chair modifications. Toph flatted the earth under the chair and left the tent. Lin fell flat on her back, groaning. Kya held out a hand to help her up. 

“I’ll be here, dry, with hot tea, when you get back,” Kya said. Lin scowled. 

“You’re lucky I like you,” she said, letting go of Kya’s hand and exiting the tent after her mother. Kya smiled to herself and moved to sit across from Bataar. 

“I’m sure you know this,” she said, “but the family you’ve got yourself involved with is far from normal.” She crossed her legs and sipped her tea. 

“Oh, I know,” Bataar said, pushing his glasses up his nose, “I didn’t even know Suyin was a Beifong until three weeks ago.”

Kya started to reply but was interrupted by an earth-shattering rumble. The ground shook as she, Bataar, and the chef ran outside to the source of the noise. They were greeted to the sight of Toph and Lin, at opposite ends of the site, each raising huge wedges of stone into the sky. They worked methodically in a circle for some time until the entire construction site and camp were freed from the endless storm by a gigantic dome covering the area. Bataar’s jaw was on the ground. The chef just shook his head and went back in the tent. Kya clapped Bataar on the back. 

“You’d better not get on Su’s bad side,” Kya laughed.


	13. Chapter 13

“You’re going to want to take a week off work and stay away from any heavy lifting if you can,” Kya said. The firebender on sitting on her examination table dutifully nodded along.

“And—, oh, excuse me,” she said when someone knocked on the door. She opened it to Lin standing in the hallway with a huge, dark blood stain on her shoulder, and carrying her armor under her arm.

“Lin?” Kya said, “Are you okay? What happened?” She pulled Lin into the room before she could answer. “Is it okay if I..?” Kya asked her patient.

“Oh yes go right ahead,” he said.

“Thank you,” Kya said. She sat Lin down next to the firebender and cut off what remained of the shoulder of her undershirt, revealing a nasty but shallow gash. Kya got to work.

“I see you’ve got all the dirt out already,” she said. 

“I got tired of you yelling at me about it,” Lin said. She watched the glowing water flow and pulse around her injury, and Kya’s face as she worked. Her eyes were closed and her brows knit as she concentrated. 

“Don’t you guys have a clinic at the station?” Kya asked.

“Yeah,” Lin said, “But the healers there do it like, different, from you. And they’re all scared of me and it just makes things take longer than they need to.”

While Kya worked on Lin she finished giving the firebender his home care instructions and sent him off with a couple pamphlets and forms. 

“You’re not throwing yourself into danger, are you?” Kya asked. She bent the dirty water into the sink and pulled out clean water from the faucet to keep on working.

“Only when necessary,” Lin said, shrugging before she realized she wasn’t supposed to move. “Sorry.”

“You’d better not get yourself killed,” Kya said, “Or I’ll find your spirit and strangle it.”

“Lin fact number 9: Being in dangerous situations is part of my job,” Lin said.

“Yeah, but so is staying alive so you can continue doing your job,” Kya said. She bent the second glob of water into the sink and started bandaging Lin’s shoulder. “And my job is to give medical care and advice, and my official medical opinion is that you do your best to not get killed.”

“I’m not convinced you’re not just saying that because you can’t afford our apartment without me,” Lin said with a small but mischievous smile. 

“I’m not convinced you should be saying that to your doctor and big spoon,” Kya said, “My official medical opinion might be that you should sleep on the couch.”

“You’d miss me too much,” Lin said. Kya finished up in silence because she didn’t have a retort for that. When she was done, Lin stood and stretched out her shoulder. Kya glided and spun around her, humming as she cleaned up her examination room for the night.

“Thanks, Kya,” Lin said. Kya kissed her lightly on the check during one of her passes. She turned to give a “you’re welcome” but broke into a huge grin when she saw how red Lin’s pale skin had grown. “Have I ever told you how cute you are?” Kya asked. She slung her arm around the earthbender’s shoulders and led them out into the hallway so she could lock the door. Lin slid her arm around Kya’s waist.

“I could stand to hear it more,” Lin said.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a super short one this time bc ive been busy

It was only seven, and Bumi and Sokka were already singing sea shanties. Or shouting them, depending on who you asked. Lin was about to call a noise complaint on her own apartment. It was hard to tell, but it looked like Sokka was trying to teach Bumi some sort of hand motions that went along with the current song. Aang had Jinora on his knee and was trying to teach her his favorite airbending tricks. Pema, Tenzin, and Katara were watching this, deep in conversation but dodging blasts of air with practiced dexterity. Toph had started a drinking game with Suki and Kya.

“They’re singing the octopushark spirit one again!” Suki said. “That’s two shots each.” She poured everyone’s drinks, then downed hers one after another. Toph did both of hers at the same time, earning an eye roll from Lin and a whoop from Kya. 

“You two are so much more fun than my mom,” Kya said. She tipped back her head and bent both her shots straight down her throat.

“Remind me again why we’re doing this in our apartment?” Lin asked. 

“Because you’re my favorite niece in law,” Suki said, leaning on Toph for support. 

“Lin fact number ten,” Kya said. She pulled Lin onto her lap.

“That’s a Suki fact,” Lin said. Kya shrugged and wrapped her arms around Lin’s waist, and Lin leaned back into the waterbender.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another short one. lin comes to a realization about four hundred years after everyone else

“Mom!” Lin knocked on the from door to her mother’s apartment. “We’re coming in.” She bent the lock open and led Kya inside. Toph was asleep on the couch, breathing softly, her hair in a wild mane covering her eyes and sticking in every conceivable direction. 

“Aw, you guys have the same bedhead,” Kya smiled. 

“No we don’t. I don’t get bedhead,” Lin said. 

“I beg to differ,” Kya said, ruffling Lin’s hair. Lin scowled but let her do it, not wanting to duck out of the way because it would mean letting go of Kya’s hand. 

“I’m not afraid to arrest you,” Lin said, moving them towards the kitchen. They shared the space in Toph’s tiny kitchen gladly, moving around each other as if in a dance while they made tea and egg fried rice. They reached out to stroke each other’s arm or waist at every pass, and passed each other utensils and ingredients without needing to ask. Kya flipped the gas off when the rice was done. While the sizzling quieted, she slipped her arm around Lin’s waist and pulled her close.

“I think we use this kitchen more than our own,” Kya said. She smiled and leaned her head down until her forehead was touching Lin’s. The earthbender’s breathing quickened.

“I’m not complaining,” Toph said. Lin jumped and hit her elbow on the edge of the counter. She turned to face her mother.

“Why do you have to do that?” Lin asked. Kya put her arm back around her waist from where it had fallen. 

“If you think I’m going to sleep through your cooking then I raised you wrong,” Toph said. She piled spoonfuls of rice onto a plate and flopped back onto the couch. “When are you two just going to get married?”

Kya almost choked on her tea and Lin crushed the stone glass she’d been holding. 

“Holy shit are we dating?” Lin asked.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT TO STORY
> 
> i had all this written and planned to write a whole bunch more between the last chapter and this one, but life happened and i dont think im going to finish this story, so im posting what ive got and leaving it at that. between the last chapter and this one lin and kya got married, aang died, other air kids were born, and korra was discovered. some of these are full scenes and some are half started, and theres time gaps between all of them

Kya ran off the boat, down the pier, through the docks, and fell backwards into the first patch of snow she saw, grinning up at the flakes falling into her face. Lin retied her scarf, threw on another jacket, and briskly walked to her wife.

“I wish you were a swamp bender,” she said through chattering teeth. Kya hopped up and took Lin’s gloved hand in hers. 

“You’ll be fine once we get indoors,” she said. The two shouldered their duffel bags and set off towards the warm glow of town. 

 

 

“Are you here to teach me earthbending? You look like an earthbender. Can we spar? Don’t go easy on me! I can take it! Why do you look like Master Katara? Are you married? Your necklace is pretty. How did you get those scars?” 

“Korra!” Senna said, “You have to slow down.”

Korra pouted and took a gulp of water. Her mother was next to her, and her father next to his wife. Katara was on the girl’s other side. Kya sat between her mother and her wife, knowing Lin would enjoy talking to Tonraq. Katara and Tonraq had used their significant influence to get the White Lotus to leave them be for the night. Kya smiled at Korra.

“I’ll go first,” Kya said. “My name is Kya, I’m Katara’s daughter. I have two brothers, you’ll meet one of them soon enough.” Korra tried to interrupt, but Senna put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, and Kya continued. “This is my wife Lin. She’s going to teach you earthbending, and I’ve got her to thank for the pretty necklace.”

Korra launched into another barrage of questions after Lin told her she had got her scars from her job on the police force. After about an hour of criminal catching stories and a promise from both Lin and Kya that they could spar the next day, Korra finally agreed to go to bed. 

 

 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Katara said, “Lin is the best earthbender in the world besides her mother, and Toph would rather die than get her butt down here.” The two White Lotus men tried to respond but Katara kept pushing. “Korra will spend spring, summer, and fall here, and winter in Republic City for the next couple of years. When she’s in the city she can focus on earthbending with Lin—and Toph if I can convince her—airbending with Tenzin, and firebending with Prince Iroh, who I’ve already made arrangements with. And of course Kya will make sure she’s not slacking on water. When she’s here she can focus on the rest of her education and just being a kid and spending time with friends and family. 

“I don’t want to hear anything else on the matter. Aang’s heart was in the right place with his whole compound plan but that’s frankly not healthy for the girl. She’ll grow up surrounded by the most powerful benders in the world and as a public figure, which she would’ve done anyway as the chief’s daughter. That’s protection enough.”

“But Master Ka-“

“Are you really going to fight with me? Greatest living waterbending master, world savior, and wife of the previous avatar? No, you’re not.”

The White Lotus men nodded and mumbled and Katara shooed them off. 

 

 

“Pleeeeeeeaasseeee can I see you fight? I’ve never seen an earthbender fight before!” Korra begged after two hours of light, basic, training. Lin stretched.

“I could use the exercise,” she said. Kya was already stripping to her tank top and leggings.

“Come at me Beifong,” she grinned. Korra shouted in delight and anticipation as Lin rewrapped her hands and feet and then stomped the ground a couple times.

Kya instantly had the upper hand on her home turf. She went full offensive, but Lin was prepared for that, and blocked all of her wife’s attacks until she could get an opening. She found it when Kya got too cocky and stayed in one spot for a moment too long. Lin dragged her down to her knees into the earth, which elicited a small shriek of surprise from Kya. But she quickly recovered and managed with only her arms to freeze Lin up to her waist. Lin let her arms fall limply to her sides and took a splash of cold water to the face. 

“Okay I won’t fight like this we look stupid,” she said. Korra, Kya, and Katara all laughed. 

“Kya wins!” Korra exclaimed.

“Um excuse me little K, I think what you’re looking at here is a draw,” Lin said from her icy prison. 

 

~~~~~

 

The rumblings of Lin’s satomobile put Korra to sleep almost as soon as the engine started. Kya noticed with a smile that Lin checked on the girl every time they had to stop the car. Once parked, Lin grabbed all six of the group’s bags while Kya carefully carried Korra inside and laid her on the couch.

Later that night, Lin awoke with a jolt and instantly sat straight up as she felt footsteps in the hall. Kya complained about the stone bed being too hard, even though Lin had bought the softest mattress she could find, but it was for exactly this reason she had made the bed. She was about to vault out of bed and into an offensive stance when Korra creaked the door open. Lin leaned back against the headboard.

“I had a bad dream,” Korra said, eyes wide and voice unusually quiet. She had a death grip on the edge of the door. Lin looked to Kya, still sound asleep. This was really her wife’s area. 

“Can I sleep with you?” Korra asked. Lin hesitated. She didn’t really want a child interrupting cuddle time with her wife, but Kya would murder her in cold blood if she knew she had not jumped at every opportunity to take the absolute best care of Korra. 

“Uh, sure little K,” Lin whispered. Korra scampered over to Lin’s side of the bed and slid under the blankets. Lin carefully re-situated herself in Kya’s arms, and Korra scooted as close to Lin as she could, picking up Lin’s arm and putting it over her. Lin was a little stiff, but tried to stay as Korra had placed her, not wanting to upset her. 

Kya woke a few hours later to pee and found her wife with a tight grip on Korra. After answering nature’s call, she lit a candle and grabbed her sketchbook and a stub of a pencil, doing her best to sketch the scene in the dark.

 

~~~~~

 

By the time the ferry docked on the island, Korra had beat her personal record for most questions asked at once. Kya picked her up mid-stream, put her on her shoulders and set off towards where Tenzin, Pema, Jinora, and Ikki were waiting at the end of the pier. Lin followed close behind, again carrying all six of their bags.

 

~~~~~

 

Kya returned to their room in the temple with an armful of candles. Tall ones, short ones, skinny ones, fat ones, some with herbs and flower petals in, some brand new, some half melted. She footed the door shut behind her and spilled her loot into their bed. Lin raised a brow.

“They never found my old stash,” Kya grinned. Lin put away an immaculately folded shirt and grabbed another from her bag. Kya began strategically placing the candles on any flat surface she could find. Most ended up crowded on the nightstands, but she did manage to wedge a couple little ones into divots in the headboard.

“May I ask why you had a secret stash of candles?” Lin asked.

“It was a game I had with Bumi,” Kya said, trying to place the last candle, a huge red one. “Whoever could steal the most candles from the acolytes without them noticing won. This one,” she gestured to the red beast in her hands, “is from the ceremony where Tenzin got his tattoos. I snuck in and out while dad was doing his spine. I won.”

 

~~~~~

 

Lin gently let Korra’s leg fall from where she’d been stretching it out.

“Are we done already?” Korra asked. Lin started wrapping her hands and ankles.

“No,” she sighed, “My mother is here.” 

“How do you know?” Korra asked.

“I can feel her coming from a mile away,” Lin said. “Not one person on this earth has footsteps as confident and arrogant as she does.” She put her hair into a bun.

“Are you using that foot seeing thing? Can you teach me? Can Toph teach me? You both can teach me!” Korra was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement, and it would probably be literal if her airbending was as advanced as her water. 

“You’re not ready for that yet,” Lin said. Korra pouted. Toph opened the door. 

“It’s been a while, Twinkletoes,” Toph said to Korra. “Hello Lin.”

“Hi Chief.” Lin motioned for Korra to stand back. 

Lin started out on the offensive, turning the floor of the gym to sand. That gave her opening enough while Toph turned the ground back to earth to kick up a rock and punch it to Toph’s left, the side she tended to dodge to when caught unawares. It thudded into her side but didn’t knock her back an inch. Toph spat and grinned.

“Nice play,” she said. Korra’s mouth was on the floor. Lin grunted.

Toph sent two stones flying at her daughter’s head but smashed them together just before they hit, the dust blinding Lin. Only set back a moment and with eyes squeezed shut, Lin launched the ground up from under Toph and quickly brought it back down, giving her a few seconds where Toph, airborne, couldn’t see as she moved to a new position, both of them now seeing only with their feet.

Toph landed on all fours and instantly sank Lin into the ground up to her waist. Lin pulled herself back out and flattened as a trio of rocks whistled over her. She spun into a standing position, taking control of the trio and sending them rocketing back at Toph, who dodged them all. They sank into the wall behind her. 

The fight continued as a back and forth for a good ten minutes until the two women fought for control over a huge boulder, both sweating and grimacing with effort. Lin felt her feet start to slide backwards across the earth. She tried to twist stone around her ankles to give her more support, but after the tiniest movement Toph shot the earth up from under Lin’s right foot, sending her sprawling to the left and giving Toph control of the boulder. She held it in the air above her daughter, prone on the ground. Lin tapped out.

“You almost got me that time,” Toph said, sitting heavily on a rock and swigging water. Lin did the same.

“You and I both know that’s a lie,” she said. Korra snapped out of her daze of amazement.

“Hello Master Chief Toph it’s an honor to meet you!” she practically shouted with a hasty bow, right fist in left palm. 

“Just Toph is fine,” Toph said. 

 

~~~~~

 

Korra yawned as Jinora tried to tell her about the book she was reading. A couple acolytes bustled around, but besides them and the small group breakfasting, the island was still asleep.

“Daddy, can we stop doing sunrise meditation?” Ikki asked, eyes half open. Tenzin opened his mouth to respond but closed it again when the ground, at first just barely noticeable, started to tremble. He sighed. 

“Is it an earthquake?” Korra asked, quite literally shaken awake. Tenzin shook his head.

“No, it’s just Lin,” he said. “She most likely just finished an especially bad shift. That would also explain why she is just now returning.” He carried on eating serenely. Korra and Jinora looked a little worried but followed his example. Ikki had fallen asleep at the table, even with the increasingly violent shaking. Kya burst into and ran through the dining hall towards the dock.

A couple minutes later, the diners could hear the cause of the quaking.

“She just fucking LEFT!” Lin shouted, “No goodbye, no announcement, no memo, even! And she just expects me to be okay with this! She just left a fucking NOTE on her desk! And it took us hours to even decipher because she’d tried to write it in braille but she doesn’t even KNOW braille and of course she can’t see what she’s doing and WHY does she have to be like this!”

Lin ignored everyone and everything around her except Kya as her wife shepherded her through the main dining hall on the way to their bedroom. The earth protested with every pound of her foot and her knuckles were white as she kept her fists clenched in her best efforts to not destroy everything within range.

“She didn’t bother to say where in god’s name she’s going either. She’s who knows where off doing fuck all while I’M left to clean up her mess!” There was a crash as Lin lost her composure. Tenzin winced. 

“Should we be concerned?” Jinora asked.

“She’ll explain to us when she’s ready, and the only one that can calm her down now is Kya,” Tenzin said, although he had an idea of what had happened, and it was giving him premature stress wrinkles. Ikki was still asleep.

Pema carried in a crying Meelo and joined her family at the table. 

“She could be an airbender with those lungs,” she deadpanned.

 

~~~~~

 

Kya could see Lin’s grumpiness from 100 feet away as she waited for her wife on the corner. The earthbender left little dents in the sidewalk as she approached. 

“Bad day?” Kya asked.

“I’m eed eaden gazzes,” Lin muttered. The sidewalk’s population parted like the sea in front of them in self defense as the two walked home.

“Hmm?” Kya said with a small but encouraging smile.

“I need reading glasses.” Lin growled into the ground. She bent the lock to their building open so forcefully that the bolt lodged itself a good couple inches inside the wood.


End file.
